Discourses of plagiarism: moralist,proceduralist, developmental and inter-textual approaches

This paper reconstructs prevalent academic discourses of student plagiarism: moralism, proceduralism, development, and writing/inter-textuality. It approaches the discourses from three aspects: intention, interpretation and the nature of the academic community. It argues that the assumptions of the moralistic approach regarding suspect intention, the transparency of interpretation, and the homogeneous nature of the academic community are in effect sustained by discourses of proceduralism and development. This results, first, in the simplistic rendition of student identities as honest/dishonest, and, second, in the proposal of or acquiescence to the triad of prevention, detection and punishment. The paper concludes that radical re-conceptualization of plagiarism may only be discovered in the discourse of inter-textuality where intention, interpretation and the academic community are construed as social practices concerning the negotiation of various identities and values – those of students as well as those of academics.     

A model for exploring student understandings of plagiarism

A clear understanding of how students view plagiarism is needed if the extensive efforts devoted to helping them engage in high-quality scholarship are to be worthwhile. There are a variety of views on this topic, but theoretical models to integrate the literature, take account of international differences and guide practitioners are limited. Using a large, international student sample, this paper presents just such a model. More than 2500 university students in the UK and Australia completed a questionnaire rating the perceived ‘seriousness' of various plagiarism-related actions in an individual assignment. Factor analysis identified three underlying themes: dishonest acts, poor referencing, and group work. Group comparisons indicated statistically significant differences in student understanding dependent on previous region of study, current faculty/school and level of study, with the former two emerging as more influential than the latter. This three-factor model provides practitioners with a methodology for integrating the many different studies in the area and gaining a broader overview of student understanding of plagiarism. In particular, it highlights how students consider plagiarism related to group work to be far less serious than other types. Given the increasing emphasis on group work in higher education, the implications of this for policy and practice are discussed. Importantly, the study also notes that effect sizes were small, suggesting that findings in this study, as in other studies, may not represent substantive differences in student perceptions. A single, universal approach to educating students about plagiarism may be as effective as approaches tailored to the individual's background.     

Questioning Student Learning: an exploration of student's views on learning to become independent nurse prescribers

This illuminative evaluation study gives insights into attitudes to learning, interaction and the perceived roles of theory, evidence, reading and previous experience. These insights lead us to question some aspects of the course as currently presented. Students indicated that they found the course material stimulating but prior guidance on the areas to read before commencing learning would have been helpful. Students were desperate to learn and to be successful, but many were apprehensive about the intensity of the pharmacological content and diagnostic skills that are required to make a clinical diagnosis. Sadly, some students felt that the restriction of the extended nurse formulary, while valuable to their professional development and credibility as a nurse, would not enhance the care that could be provided to patients. This limitation was not realized until the course had commenced. This may have been avoided if an information day had been provided before commencing the course. For many students, a positive finding was the realization of the relevance to practice and the contribution that could be made to everyday nursing care. Future independent nurse prescribing students would benefit from the provision of pre‐course reading, guided studies in pharmacology, normal physiology and physical examination skills before commencing the course of study. The use of a theoretical self‐assessment tool would allow potential students to assess their suitability for the programme. Aspects of student learning need to be discussed early in the programme.     

Reducing unintentional plagiarism amongst international students in the biological sciences: An embedded academic writing development programme

There is general agreement in the literature that international students are more likely to plagiarise compared to their native speaker peers and, in many instances, plagiarism is unintentional. In this article we describe the effectiveness of an academic writing development programme embedded into a Biological Sciences Taught Masters course designed to reduce unintentional plagiarism amongst international students in the cohort. We compared plagiarism rates in the years before and after the implementation of the writing intervention. In addition, we analysed data from a high response rate questionnaire (87.8%: class of 90 students) designed to evaluate students’ perceptions of the usefulness of the writing development programme and to elicit information about their prior educational experiences which might relate to plagiarism. Our combined quantitative and qualitative data show that an early pedagogical response reduced plagiarism levels amongst international students. However, the UK and international students in the same cohort reported markedly different responses to the writing programme. We therefore suggest that, if international students are provided with an initial opportunity to practise academic writing and receive feedback, they are more likely to be successful when writing coursework assignments later on. However, any initial writing development programme should be adapted to accommodate the differing needs of the UK and international students within the cohort.     

Internet plagiarism in higher education: tendencies,triggering factors and reasons among teacher candidates

While plagiarism has been a growing problem in higher education for a long time, the use of the Internet has made this increasing problem more unmanageable. In many countries, this problem has become a matter of discussion, and higher education institutions feel obliged to review their policies on academic dishonesty. As part of these efforts, the study aims to examine the tendencies of teacher candidates to plagiarise using the Internet, factors affecting their tendencies and the reasons for plagiarism. In this context, a questionnaire was administered to a total of 386 first- and fourth-grade college students at a college of education. The data were analysed using frequencies, percentages, the Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance. The findings revealed that the teacher candidates had, to some extent, a tendency to plagiarise using the Internet by copying material or using the same assignment in different courses. Gender, department and length of computer use were found to be significant factors affecting their tendencies to plagiarise using the Internet. Time constraints, workload and difficulty of the assignments/projects were indicated as among the major reasons for tendencies towards Internet plagiarism.     

学术文献抄袭检测研究进展

指出近年来,学术抄袭事件时有发生,科研诚信引起全社会的广泛关注。随着信息技术的发展,对于学术抄袭的的检验问题已不再停留在传统的"防止复制"阶段。总结整理目前国内外主要抄袭检验的研究内容和研究方法,重点对基于统计的方法和基于数字指纹的方法进行总结,归纳目前抄袭检验技术应用的主要数学算法和各自特点。通过对国内外研究成果的梳理,指出抄袭检验技术存在的不足及未来发展趋势和应用领域。     

Debunking Common Misconceptions and Myths

Few words strike fear into the hearts of college faculty and administrators like copyright infringement. Misunderstandings and misinformation about copyright run rampant on college campuses today, and these can lead to restricting classroom teaching or even liability for copyright infringement. In this column, I begin with a short overview of copyright and fair use followed by a discussion of some of the more common copyright myths I have encountered over the past few years. The purpose of this column is to explore some of the common copyright myths and misconceptions regularly seen on college campuses. Conversations with librarians and faculty around the country indicate that these seem to be fairly universal misconceptions. All of the examples presented are actual, real-life scenarios that I have seen over the past few years.     

Developing Online Tutorials to Improve Information Literacy Skills for Second-Year Nursing Students of University College Dublin

This article explores the process of developing online tutorials for a specified student group, in this case Second-Year Nursing students in University College Dublin. The product was commissioned by the Health Sciences Library and the UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Health Systems. It was developed as a “Capstone Project” for part fulfillment of the MLIS in UCD.

We focused our research on three areas of scholarship to assist in the development of our product, namely Information Behavior, Learning Technologies, and Learning Science and Design. Flemings VARK model was used to inform the team of the four different learning styles (visual, auditory, reading, and kinesthetic) and to match the presentation style to these.

An initial difficulty in the assessment phase was one of access to a large group of students, as the students were on clinical placements. We created personas and a profile of nursing students to try and compensate for this. The tutorial was developed to cater for this specific group of students and later to act as a valuable support to the Library, which is under severe pressure in terms of staff availability to support student learning.

The product is relatively straightforward to produce (and maintain) and is something the Library will be able to develop and add to in future years.     

医学期刊图表重复的防范策略

【目的】探讨医学期刊如何防范图表抄袭、重复等学术不端行为;【方法】对作者投稿、编辑初审、同行评议、编辑加工、出版后处理等流程中应注意的问题进行归纳总结;【结果】投稿时作者应签署著作权转让相关文件并对图片进行加密处理;编辑部收稿时应对作者信息进行核实,提防"枪手"稿件;学术不端检测时采用统一格式上传稿件,并可采用多家检测系统,编辑对检测结果应综合分析;重视同行评议;编辑加工阶段注意核实图表具体信息及图片分辨率,必要时请作者提供原始数据。【结论】只要在编辑工作中多加留意,图表重复的鉴别仍有章可循。